American health care needs spiritual component

Last month The Deseret News published "Why depression recovery rarely happens with a single solution" that includes:

"According to the most recent available government statistics, 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 12 have taken an antidepressant in the past year, a rate that rises in certain subgroups. Nearly one-quarter of women in the 40s and 50s take antidepressants, and 1 in 6 seniors do, despite a recent report that the drugs can double the risk of hip fractures in older people."

This article quotes Thomas Moore in its treatment of depression:

"For adults, if antidepressants don't work, one reason could be that they're not addressing the problem, which could be spiritual in nature, said Thomas Moore, a former monk and the author of Dark Nights of the Soul and other books on spirituality. 

Moore, who lives in New Hampshire and often speaks to medical providers about the need for a spiritual component in health care, likens a clinical depression to a black mood, while a 'dark night' — the sort of spiritual travail experienced by Mother Teresa or St. John of the Cross — is more gray. 

'It's the sense that the meaning of life has gone away, and there's no sense of purpose. If it touches the meaning of your life, you need a more spiritual response,' he said."

The Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.